A graphics library is a
program library
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...
designed to aid in rendering
computer graphics
Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great deal ...
to a monitor. This typically involves providing optimized versions of functions that handle common
rendering tasks. This can be done purely in
software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
...
and running on the
CPU
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, an ...
, common in
embedded system
An embedded system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is ''embedded'' ...
s, or being
hardware accelerated by a
GPU, more common in
PCs. By employing these functions, a program can assemble an image to be output to a monitor. This relieves the programmer of the task of creating and optimizing these functions, and allows them to focus on building the graphics program. Graphics libraries are mainly used in
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
s and
simulations
A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...
.
The use of graphics libraries in connection with
video production
Video production is the process of producing video content for video. It is the equivalent of filmmaking, but with video recorded either as analog signals on videotape, digitally in video tape or as computer files stored on optical discs, hard dri ...
systems, such as
Pixar RenderMan
Pixar RenderMan (formerly PhotoRealistic RenderMan) is proprietary photorealistic 3D rendering software produced by Pixar Animation Studios. Pixar uses RenderMan to render their in-house 3D animated movie productions and it is also available as ...
, is not covered here.
Some
APIs
Apis or APIS may refer to:
* Apis (deity), an ancient Egyptian god
* Apis (Greek mythology), several different figures in Greek mythology
* Apis (city), an ancient seaport town on the northern coast of Africa
**Kom el-Hisn, a different Egyptian ci ...
use Graphics Library (GL) in their name, notably
OpenGL
OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve ha ...
and
WebGL
WebGL (Short for Web Graphics Library) is a JavaScript API for rendering interactive 2D and 3D graphics within any compatible web browser without the use of plug-ins. WebGL is fully integrated with other web standards, allowing GPU-accelerate ...
.
Examples
*
Allegro
*
ANGLE
In Euclidean geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two rays, called the '' sides'' of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the '' vertex'' of the angle.
Angles formed by two rays lie in the plane that contains the rays. Angles ...
* Apple Macintosh
QuickDraw
A quickdraw (also known as an extender) is a piece of climbing equipment used by rock and ice climbers to allow the climbing rope to run freely through protection such as a bolt anchors or other traditional gear while leading.
A quickd ...
*
Cairo (graphics)
Cairo (stylized as cairo) is an open-source graphics library that provides a vector graphics-based, device-independent API for software developers. It provides primitives for two-dimensional drawing across a number of different back ends. C ...
*
Clutter
Clutter and its derivations may refer to any of the following:
Excessive physical disorder
* Clutter, a confusing, or disorderly, state or collection, and possible symptom of compulsive hoarding
* Clutter (marketing), numerous advertisements, ...
* DFPSR https://dawoodoz.com/dfpsr.html (GUI toolkit and software renderer)
*
DirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direc ...
(a library created by Microsoft, to run under Windows operating systems and 'Direct' Xbox)
*
Display PostScript
Display PostScript (or DPS) is a 2D graphics engine system for computers which uses the PostScript (PS) imaging model and language (originally developed for computer printing) to generate on-screen graphics. To the basic PS system, DPS adds a num ...
*
emWin An Embedded Graphics Library
*
FLTK A GUI Toolkit and Graphics Library
*
GTK A GUI toolkit
*
Mesa 3D
Mesa, also called Mesa3D and The Mesa 3D Graphics Library, is an open source implementation of OpenGL, Vulkan, and other graphics API specifications. Mesa translates these specifications to vendor-specific graphics hardware drivers.
Its most im ...
(a library that implements OpenGL)
*
MiniGL (a range of incomplete OpenGL implementations)
* MIT
X Window System
The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems.
X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting ...
*
Open Inventor
*
Qt A cross-platform application framework
*
SFML
SIGIL(Sound, Input, and Graphics Integration Library)
*
Simple DirectMedia Layer
Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL) is a cross-platform software development library designed to provide a hardware abstraction layer for computer multimedia hardware components. Software developers can use it to write high-performance computer game ...
*
Skia Graphics Library
See also
*
Anti-Grain Geometry
Anti-Grain Geometry (AGG) is a 2D rendering graphics library written in C++. It features anti-aliasing and sub-pixel resolution. It is not a graphics library, per se, but rather a framework to build a graphics library upon.
The library is o ...
*
Software development kit
A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific ...
(SDK)
*
OpenGL ES
OpenGL for Embedded Systems (OpenGL ES or GLES) is a subset of the OpenGL computer graphics rendering application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D computer graphics such as those used by video games, typically hardware-ac ...
*
Graphical Widget toolkit graphical control elements drawn on bitmap displays
Utility Library for Imaging System
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graphics Library
Graphics libraries,
hu:Grafikus programkönyvtár